First Impressions
by unfathomablestars
Summary: Kate Stewart is having an uneventful day at work until a strange, blue box appears in her office. The new TARDIS team take the opportunity to have a little fun with the head of UNIT but how will she react?
1. Prologue

Kate Stewart was having a lazy day, her eyelids working hard to keep themselves open. All the usual alien suspects and refugees had gone quiet, her generals and captains were keeping themselves to themselves which she appreciated. Even her meeting with the Prime Minister was largely uneventful.

Then her teacup started rumbling.  
A gush of wind filled the room as documents started flying about like paper birds.  
And that sound, that cacophonous wheezing and groaning echoes around her large office.

A small, ginger cat shrieked at the large blue box that was making the commotion. Kate knew what it was of course but it was different to how it normally looked. Slightly shorter and with a new paint job. It placed itself in one corner of the room, out of the way, it was at least somewhat considerate.

Outstepped four people, a feat that Kate knew wasn't impossible but still amused her with how odd it looked. She first noticed the two younger members of the group, a tall dark-skinned boy with cropped hair and a grey hoodie. Next to him was a girl, roughly the same age she was guessing wearing a brown leather jacket over a pink jumper.

The other two were older, her attention was first drawn to the woman, who had a swish of golden hair much like her own. Then to the man who was older still, with greying hair and a round, happy face.

He held out a hand and said with twitch of apprehension. 'Hello Kate, I'm the Doctor.'


	2. The Plan

_3 hours earlier_

'It'd be brilliant!' the Doctor exclaimed.

The four of them were gathered around the TARDIS console with the three humans: Graham, Ryan and Yasmin looking at the slightly mad alien woman with confusion.

'Explain it to me again.' Graham said with a sigh of exasperation. 'Fully this time.'  
'Right, so I've got this friend, Kate. She's head of UNIT,'  
'UNIT?' Yasmin asked.  
'Unified Intelligence Taskforce, they're part of the UN. Set up to deal with aliens on Earth.' 'Never hear of them,' said Ryan.

'You've don't even know who the prime minister is, of course, you're not going to know about some shadowy government organisation,' Graham said.

'Harriet Jones,' Ryan said defiantly with a sense of confidence, which received an outburst of laughter from Graham and Yasmin.

'Seriously? Mate watch the news once in a while,' Yasmin said, wiping a tear from her eye.

The Doctor patted Ryan on the back, 'Don't worry, I don't know either.' Somehow Ryan was exactly comforted by the notion that he was as out of touch with current events as a scatterbrained alien who travels through time and space.

'Anyway back to this idea?' said Graham.

'Oh yeah. Right, so Kate hasn't met me yet. Well, not this body, so I thought you could pretend to be me.'

'Okay. Why?'

'It'd be fun! She's not seen me as a woman yet, and I know you most of you humans are obsessed with the whole 'one sex for life' thing.' The Doctor said, fiddling with the controls on the brand new TARDIS console, casually ignoring the giggles that were coming from the two teenagers. 'And I've always wanted to have a disguise. My friend, well enemy they always wore lots of disguises. It looked fun.'

She liked the idea of being someone else. Until recently she was tired of even being the Doctor. Such a weight of responsibility on her shoulders and so ubiquitous around the universe. Once she had tried to delete her name from every database in the universe but soon realised that doing that for every database from the Big Bang to the end of the universe was far too much effort for her, so she decided to give up and went for ice cream instead.

The Doctor sidled up to Graham clasping her arms behind her and giving a long, expressive 'So?' Another sigh, 'Do I have a choice?'

'I mean you can say no...' but the Doctor had developed a forlorn expression with big puppy-dog eyes. It was an unexpected perk with this new body. In her new friends' time period mainly men (and some women) would obsess over her rather than the other way around like before. It was annoying but occasionally useful for getting what she wanted.

'Alright, fine. And her name's Kate?'  
'Yeah. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. Proper daddy's girl.'


	3. Chapter 3

'Hello Doctor,' began Kate, returning the handshake. 'I see you've still got some of your roots showing.'

'Yes, all new body this, I asked for something handsome and fit, but this was all they had,' Graham said, adding a nervous chuckle.

'And I don't believe I've met your new companions. You'll all have to be processed at the Black Archive, just mentioning it now. Don't worry it's standard procedure.'

Yasmin whispered 'companions?' to Ryan in a way that Kate wouldn't notice. She never heard the Doctor use that word before; they were always just her 'friends'. She didn't like it; it sounded formal and old-fashioned. To her life in the TARDIS was just a group of mates having adventures, not some grand tour with the Doctor being their guide. She was almost as clueless as them most of the time but made up for it in enthusiasm and raw energy.

'This is Yasmin, Ryan and ...' said Graham. Then he turned to the Doctor who was not wearing her usual garish ensemble. Even she knew Kate would see right through that. It was quite dull by comparison, just a loose-fitting red jumper and dark jeans.

'Graham.' The Doctor offered. '...Verity.' Graham corrected near instantaneously. Kate looked quizzically.

'She's kooky. Like me, I'm always going around giving fake names. I mean I call myself the Doctor. That's not even a proper name, that's rubbish. I should change it,' said Graham. His nervous excuse that went at a mile a minute was a convincing impression of the Doctor. She'd often rattle off reams of information without drawing breath, all of it nonsense.

But the Doctor herself looked in a right huff. _Kooky_, her? She had given them the perfect opportunity to say exactly what they thought of her, and there was nothing she could do about it.

'Well lovely to meet you all, I...' Kate was interrupted by the phone ringing.

Of course, now she gets busy.

'Stewart, here.' She listened attentively before saying. 'Okay, I'll be right over.'

Kate leapt away from her desk, barely having time to say 'Sorry, got to do a thing. Give me a minute,' before leaving.

Then she was gone. And Graham could relax, finding the nearest chair and slumping down into it. 'This was a stupid idea,'

'We probably should've rehearsed it more, but you're doing fine. Where did Verity come from though?' The Doctor asked.

'Common name for a girl in Yorkshire.'  
'I kind of like it. But you're right I should have a backstory.' The Doctor said with bludging eyes. 'I did not say that.'

'I will be Verity Higgins. A tough, street-wise lass from Huddersfield. I come from a broken home with no job, no prospects, just a whole load of moxie.'

Graham sunk his head into his hands which muffled the 'oh God.'

Meanwhile, the two young adults weren't listening at all to the Doctor's ramblings or Graham's plight. Instead, they had spotted the red-furred cat that was prowling around the room. Yasmin let out an 'aww,' and leant down to stroke it. 'Hello, you cutie. I'd love a cat like you, but my Mum won't let me.'

'Can we get a cat in the TARDIS?' Ryan asked the Doctor.

'What!? No way I don't want a cat cramping my style. Anyway, I'm more of a dog person.'

'What style?' Yasmin said.

'Do you mean Verity or the Doctor?' Ryan smirked. The Doctor was regretting this. 'I want to know what _the Doctor _thinks'.

It was at this moment that the cat leapt up onto Graham's lap as Kate re-entered the room.

'Ah, I see you've met Percy. I got him for the whole office to boost morale but all he ever wants to do is annoy me.' Kate said. 'Anyway, follow me, I got something for you, Doctor.'

Graham felt like he was being plunged headfirst into icy water. Might as well get this hell over with._Why do I ever listen to the Doctor? _He thought as they left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

'Hi Doctor, it's so good to see you again.'

Martha Jones said with a broad smile, embracing Graham with a hug. They had arrived at a service door of Holborn tube station after a long and tense car journey. Doctor Jones was wearing a rugged black coat and jeans contrasted markedly with her cheerful expression.

Although even that soon faded as he looked at her with confusion. 'It's me, Martha. Don't you remember?'

'Martha yes. Sorry, my memory's going in my old age. And you know how clumsy I am. I'm always dropping things in the TARDIS engines. Nearly blowing us to smithereens and terrifying us half to death whenever we travel.' Graham said pointedly at the Doctor.

_That was once, and it was only a small explosion_, the Doctor recalled.

Martha let out a small chuckle, remembering all the times her Doctor would fly the TARDIS like he had no idea what he was doing. At times he'd bash the console with a mallet and other times he'd stroke it like an old lover.

The Doctor was tired of being treated like a joke and strolled up to Martha with the cockiest of swaggers.

'Hey the name's Verity Higgins,' she said like some sort of gangster. 'What up tank?' 'Sorry, "tank"?'  
'It's what I call people. Like if I see a nice looking guy, I'll go "yeah, he's a real...tank".'

The Doctor couldn't even get to the end of that sentence before realising she was talking utter rubbish. _Get it together, you've been friends with humans for nearly 2000 years how can you not know how they talk? _She thought.

'She from a rough part of town. I took her with me out of pity. But she's... feisty.' Graham said, once again covering for the Doctor being out of touch.

'Nice to meet you,' said Martha mainly just out of politeness.

'And these lovely young un's are Ryan and Yasmin.'

'Anyway, shall we get down to business?' Kate asked after the group had exchanged pleasantries.

'Yeah, we've been getting an unusual trace of energy coming from the tunnels underneath the station.' Martha said, opening the door and descending the stairs.

'So you used to travel with the Doctor?' Ryan asked as the group walked through a seemingly endless and darkly lit corridor.

'Yeah, it was a long time ago now. How are you finding it?'  
'It's brilliant. I met Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.'  
'That's amazing! I'm properly jealous. How come I never got to see them, Doctor?'

'Well all of time and space is pretty big, I can't fit everything in.' 'Did you not meet any famous people Martha?' Yaz said.  
'Not really, just William Shakespeare.'  
'That's pretty impressive to be fair.'

'Yeah, I suppose. He did have a thing for me.'  
'What?'  
'Dark Lady sonnets, look them up.'  
'What about you Verity? How are you getting on?' Kate asked. 'Spiffing, dawg.'

'Tone it down, grandma,' Ryan said sotto voce.

'Alright, alright,' she said in an equally hushed tone before going back to a normal speaking volume. 'It's proper ace and the Doctor's brilliant. Remarkably competent and kind in fact.'

'Thanks Verity,' Graham said.

'Are you sure you're the Doctor? Incompetent and annoying is kind of your trademark.' Martha said jokingly.

'I've matured Miss Jones.' 'Miss?'

Crap. He miscalculated. T_hat's what happens when you decide to get cocky you stupid idiot_, Graham thought. _You pretend you're Steve Jobs once and suddenly you think you're a master of disguises_. He'll have to say something soon, the silence is becoming unbearable. He looks to the Doctor in an act of desperation. She mouthes the word 'doctor' trying not to catch Martha's attention.

'Proctor?' That can't be right, he thinks and the Doctor's 'what the hell Graham?' look confirms it. 'Doctor. Doctor. I mean doctor. Obviously doctor. That makes much more sense. Doctor Martha Jones. Doctor Jones. The good doctor-'

'Okay there?'  
'Yes just, new body still working things out.'

'Looks like we're here. The energy disturbance is coming from behind this door.' Kate said reading from her scanner. 'Think you can get it open?'

'You know me, I love a locked door.' Graham said, taking out the sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket and aiming it at the door. With an ominous clunk, the door was unlocked and the group braced themselves for entering the unknown.


	5. Chapter 5

The team of six ventured into the pitch black room, their torches weren't helping much to illuminate the room or quell their fears. The screeches and crackles from Kate's Geiger counter-like device weren't exactly comforting either.

'I properly hate the dark,'

'Braveheart Ryan,' the Doctor said.

'So what actually are we looking for?'

'We don't know, just that whatever it is is giving off traces of artron energy,' Martha answered.

'That's the same stuff the TARDIS runs off of,' Graham said, cleverly remember what he'd learnt from travelling with the Doctor.

'Exactly, could just be resid—ahh' the Doctor tripped and crashed to the floor. 'Ow, what was that?' 'I think you've found what we're looking for,' Kate said.  
Yaz shone her torch onto the area where the Doctor had fallen. 'It's... a rock.'

'It's a rock giving off artron energy, which means it's not just a rock.' the Doctor said, dusting herself off. 'It's a rock that's potentially very dangerous. Or it could be nothing. Hard to tell. Isn't that right Doc?'

'Yeah if you say so.'  
'We'd better take in back to the Tower for testing.'

—

To anyone who knew Kate and Martha, it would seem as though they'd easier be able to figure out that they were being played for fools rather poorly by Team TARDIS and on any other day that would've been true. Both of them, after all, are highly intelligent, capable women... except when stressed and tired.

Kate had been overworked in the week due to fighting off a whole herd of alien wildebeest-type creatures in the outer Hebrides, trying to coax them back through Osgood's homemade portal was a bit like sheepherding only a thousand times more terrifying. Although somehow less terrifying than being hauled in front of a select committee and being forced to justify UNIT's continued existence. Aliens she could just about deal with, politicians were something else entirely.

Martha meanwhile had her hands full with her new baby. It was her decision to return to work early,

even though she cherished her bundle of joy she couldn't sit around idle while the Earth was in danger. Her husband, Mickey, was doing his best but last night it was her turn to stop the wailing cries at an ungodly hour so now she was barely hanging on.

The rock was almost as black as charcoal and the size of an old telly. It was deposited on a stand inside a secure chamber.

Kate and Martha were ready for 'the Doctor' to be all Doctory and save the day, whereas the fam was looking increasingly sheepish. 'Just need a quick word with Verity,' Graham said quickly leading the two of them off to a side room.

'Doc I'm really not sure about this, I mean can't we just fess up now, surely you've had you're fun?'

'I'm allowed one day off Graham, aren't I? Just a little longer please, I promise I'll make it up to you.'

'But that rock you said it was dangerous. I don't know what I'm doing!' 'I also said it could be nothing. I was just covering all the bases.'  
'It's giving off artron energy!'  
'You're giving off artron energy!'

'What!?'

'It's mostly harmless background radiation from travelling through time. We're all coated with the stuff. I reckon this rock is just a meteor that fell through a wormhole.'

'You sure?'

'Trust me, Verity Higgins ain't no liar bruv.' Graham winced at the poor attempt to appear normal. 'Alright, I still need to work at it.'

'Fine. But you owe me big time.'

'Yep. Now get out there, wave the sonic around, use big science-y words and make half of it up cos honestly that's what I do.'

'You've got to be joking?'

'Fake it till you make it Graham, fake it till you make it,' she said patting him on the shoulders.

With the world's worst pep talk over Graham and the Doctor reentered the room.

'Ready?' Kate asked.

'Let's do this,' Graham psyched himself up and entered the almost claustrophobic chamber. Before the heavy door closed Percy slinked through the gap.

'I don't think you're gonna save me puss,' he conceded under his breath to the feline. Suddenly and with a loud thunk the door locked, sealing Graham and Percy inside. 'Um is it meant to do that?' Yaz worriedly asked.

'No, it's not.' Kate said, hurrying to the computer terminal. The screens were flickering

'Doctor, enough with the games, we've got to help Graham.' Ryan shouted.

'What?' Martha said.

'Yep, okay... um, SURPRISE! He's not the Doctor, I'm the Doctor. We were just playing a prank and now it's all gone a bit wrong.'

'I don't want to worry you but this thing's started shaking.' Graham

'Oh you complete—'

'Yes, Kate I know I'm sorry. Let me just save our lives okay?'

The rock vibrated violently cracking into pieces like an egg, nestled within was a pulsating red mass surrounded by organic tendrils and an uncomfortable ticking sound.

'Oh god, it's a bomb! Doc help me what do I do?'

'STAY CALM GRAHAM! ' the Doctor said, typing furiously at the keyboard to try and override the lock.

'Forget about the door we need to defuse the bomb!' Martha said.

The ticking was getting louder and more rapid as Percy jumped up on the table and started gnawing away at the tendrils.

Moments later all Graham could hear was ringing in his ears and all he could see was white._This is it then_, Graham thought.


	6. Chapter 6

'A CAT...' Kate Stewart said firmly in her office chair, despite struggling to get the words out of her mouth. 'A CAT DEFUSED A BOMB.'

Sat at the other side of the desk now in her regular outfit making her look even more like a naughty child was the Doctor.

'Varaxorian bombs are a bit naff but still, great cat, he should get a promotion,' she said awkwardly trying to introduce some levity into the room.

'And it turns out that's not even the most ridiculous thing that happened today. If it wasn't for your silly little prank we wouldn't have been in that situation.'

'I know I'm really, really sorry. It was all my idea, don't blame the others.'

'I wasn't blaming them.'

'Oh... good.'

'Just be lucky all it did was cause your friend to have a splitting headache and a nasty fright.' Martha said who was stood behind Kate with her arms crossed.

'Yeah, I'm sorry Martha, Kate.'

'I know you are. You're one of the most incredible men— sorry force of habit, woman?' the Doctor lightly nodded. 'You're one of the most incredible women I've ever met but like I said you're also, without doubt, the most incompetent and annoying.'

'I know. I'm trying to be a better person but I've messed up. I always mess up.' she said with her head nestled into her chest, partly to hide the tears, partly so she wouldn't have to look at them.

'Doctor.'  
She lifted her head up, 'I can make it up to you, I promise.'

'Doctor. We can sort out how you can make it up to us later.' Kate took a firm but ultimately gentle tone. 'But, seeing as no real harm was done I think we should get a cup of tea and we'll say no more about it.'

—

'I made you this. It's not much but it's a start. I'm really sorry Graham.' The Doctor said handing a cup of tea to the man who had a shock blanket draped around his shoulders.

'You should be for what you put Graham through!' Ryan angrily said. 'What were you even thinking?' Yaz asked.  
'Guys,' Graham said. 'Just give me and the Doc some space.'  
'You sure?'

'Yeah. I'll be fine.'

Yaz and Ryan went, leaving an tricky tension between the two who were left.

'Sit down.' The old man said to which the Doctor complied. They now sat side by side, eyes staring out, away from each other. 'I could curse you to high heaven you know?'

'I know.'

'Being with you my heart doesn't half pump fast. And I've seen the strangest things, but I didn't think a moggie saving my life from near explosion would be one of them.'

'I said you wouldn't be safe—'  
'Is that supposed to be an excuse!?' Graham angrily accused.

'No. Please just let me finish. I said that you wouldn't be safe, and the universe can be dangerous but I wasn't just talking about that. I'm dangerous. I put people at risk and I don't think of the consequences. I should just take you all back home.'

'No.' 'What?'

'You shouldn't do that. Because despite everything I think you're funny and loveable and curious. And I think you'd lose that all in a second if it wasn't for us.' Graham didn't frame it like a question but he knew it to be true from the Doctor's expression, cutting likes daggers in her hearts. 'I don't want to be alone and neither do you, no one does not really. If... when you make mistakes we'll be there to put them right.'

'I don't deserve you,' she sobbed.

'There there,' he said being careful not to spill his tea as he put his other arm around her and drew her to his breast. 'Best of friends as ever we were.'


End file.
